Well, my post is not about a great time, or race result, rather an individual milestone.

I've suffered from severe shin splints since high school, and because of that running was never fun, it was just a way to stay in shape for other sports. Simply put; I hated running but did it because I had to.

Well, things have changed. On the advice of my brother, I researched the Bikilas and decided to take the chance on a pair. The one thing that was shared with me by my brother and members of this forum was to start SLOW. I did. My first "jog" was a slow 1/2 mile. What was amazing is that I felt NO pain in my shins, and was able to run it without stopping. Trust me, that's amazing. *However, I did wake up the next day feeling as if someone took a hammer to my calves*. But that went away. Slowly I listened to my body and increased mileage when I felt I could. I made it to 1, then 1.5. Last week I hit a milestone, I jogged 2.5 miles. FYI: I haven't been able to run that far since high school (I'm 43 now). I am elated! I grew up with a father who was as avid runner and heard of the "runners high" but never experience it. I'm not sure I'm doing the necessarry mileage to experience/feel that, but what I do know is that I enjoy running now. I've dropped close to 20lbs so far (a mix of diet, ice hockey & jogging), and feel the best I've felt in a long time. Love these funny looking shoes!

So far my personal best is 5k in 34.44minutes ina pari of Treks. Not amazing, but still damn proud since I am 6'-6" and 290 lbs and it was in 3" of snow. Can't wait till i shed some weight and hit the dry pavement in my KSO's.

Are you on a rubber or concrete track? I was never fast with mile times. I hit right at 10 sec in a 100m dash. Only once, everything else was around 11-12 sec.

It's a rubberized track, perfect surface for barefoot or VFFs IMHO. I've run faster miles in the past (in college) but haven't been hitting these speeds in 13-14 years! I think because I got so burned out competing in Track & Field all through high school and college that I never wanted to see a track again. But recently I've been joining some running friends on Tuesday's to do some speed work on the track and have fallen in love with it all over again!

I did my personal longest distance last night at 6.19 miles running unshod. Normally I only do about a 5k (with or without VFFs), so I basically doubled my distance. My end time was 1:07:23 according to RunKeeper. I am pretty excited about that because I got pressured into signing up for a half in May and I was a little unsure if I could make that distance in two months. I am much more confident about it now. The only thing that stinks at the moment is that I didn't think about thigh chafing at all and ended up with some soreness, but I will definitely rectify that for next time.

Just did the St Patricks Race in Holyoke (MA) today, barefoot. My 1st 10k (2 previous races were 5ks), 49min was on the counter (ive been avg around 53ish for 6mi in the past), will find out exact when the bibtag results are posted.Official time: 49:26 (gun time) 7:58 (avg pace) 48:36 (actual time, from hitting start line to hitting finish line)

Went out and did 10.8, 1:47:30 (to closest store and back) the other day 4mi KSO, remainder barefoot. Its by far the longest ive ever done previous distance was 6.2. Hoping to do a half marathon complete barefoot next weekend.

The eureka moment arrived about 11.30pm only went up and down the street a few times but put a huge mile on my face.Ee against vff these feel lighter still. Also feels bare due to airflow. So pleased to have found a method that gets rid of the knot underneath. Although that could be down to using leather square laces rather than modern poly-something-ene laces.

The eureka moment arrived about 11.30pm only went up and down the street a few times but put a huge mile on my face.Ee against vff these feel lighter still. Also feels bare due to airflow. So pleased to have found a method that gets rid of the knot underneath. Although that could be down to using leather square laces rather than modern poly-something-ene laces.